Hogget Markets to Stay “Broadly Similar”

Supplies have been similar to 2013, with 47,855 hoggets slaughtered to date. This is 15 per cent lower than 56,570 for corresponding period in 2014.

Over half of production is shipped into the republic of Ireland, which has accounted for 52 per cent of sheep exported this year to date and 49 per cent over the same period in 2014.

Higher throughput early in 2014 was down to greater carryover from 2013, explained an LMC spokesperson, who blamed challenging production conditions on lamb performance and longer finishing periods.

The spokesperson added: “The much improved weather and grass growing conditions of 2014 resulted in lambs reaching slaughter weights earlier with a smaller carryover of hoggets into 2015 as a result.”

This means average carcase weights this year are 22.4 kilos, 0.3 kilos higher than the same period last year.

“The total carcase weight of lamb handled by the NI processors during 2015 to date was 1,075 tonnes, a 14 per cent reduction on the 1,247 tonnes handled in the corresponding period in 2014,” added the LMC. “In the same period in 2013 the NI plants handled 985.4 tonnes of lamb.”